MENU

Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

Power Protection Prevents Massive Fire in Belmont

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re part of—all of us are susceptible to power outages at any given time. Whether at an airport, in Las Vegas, or in a voting booth, the loss of power, no matter how temporary, is a major inconvenience.

Not only do operations come to a drastic halt when the power goes out unexpectedly, but equipment can also be severely damaged if there are no power protection systems in place. We saw this recently in Tupelo, Mississippi, where the Daily Journal’s press equipment was ruined due to a power outage. Not only did the paper lose its equipment, but it had to pay a hefty sum to replace it, and the distribution schedule got off track.

The Daily Journal is just one example of many that showcases the need for power protection systems, such as uninterruptable power supplies (UPS). As if to further prove the benefits of these solutions, a power protection system in Belmont, MA actually prevented a massive fire from breaking out during a power outage.

Belmont Light Director Jim Palmer has stated that the massive power outage that took place in Belmont on Monday was caused by an explosion. However, he also pointed out that the power protection in place worked as designed and prevented substantial damage to the transformer. If the transformer had been damaged, a massive fire would have broken out in the town.

According to Belmont Light, the company was able to restore power to about half of its customers within two hours. Spokesman Aidan Leary wrote in a statement, “By 7 p.m., power had been restored to another 500 customers. They resolved the issue for the remaining 500 customers in the southeast corner of Belmont along the border with Cambridge by 10 p.m. There were intermittent outages throughout town as the hot weather caused demand to spike and the system was stretched to its capacity.”

Belmont Light was able to get power restored so quickly because quite a few businesses and homes had UPS and backup generators in place to lessen the impact of power outages. That, and the company didn’t have to worry about a huge fire blazing through town. If Belmont hadn’t had power protection in place, there’s no saying how much damage that fire would have caused.

Is your company safe from the destructive potential of power outages and surges?

This White Paper provides statistics and information about the cost of downtime related to remote equipment, and how organizations can benefit from including remote power management products (IP-addressable PDUs) in their power protection strategy.